Fix Grand Theft Auto IV (GTA 4) DD3D30 (D3D) Error in Windows 7

Posted: December 11, 2009/Under: Gaming/By: My Digital Life Editorial Team

Grand Theft Auto IV, which commonly abbreviated as GTA 4 or GTA IV, is the sixth 3D game in the popular Grand Theft Auto series. GTA IV is a sandbox-style action-adventure video game developed by Rockstar North, and has been received nearly universal acclaim from video gamers, and is selling like hot cakes since its release.
Grand Theft Auto 4 (GTA4) can be installed in Windows 7, with the help of compatibility mode of setup installer in Windows XP SP2 or Windows XP SP3. However, when trying to run and play Grand Theft Auto IV (GTA4) in Windows 7, the following error message will be displayed after pressing the Play button:

DD3D30
D3D Error – Please re-boot your system

Change the compatibility mode to Windows Vista or Windows XP for the game executable does not help to fix or resolve the issue. Instead, the GTA IV support suggests a system reboot or restart, but the re-starting up the computer does not solve the problem.

The problem when playing GTA IV may not happen on all Windows 7 system. Most 32-bit (x86) and 64-bit (x64) can run GTA 4 properly. But with huge choice of graphic or display accelerator adapter, in some configuration, Grand Theft Auto IV fails to run correctly.

For gamers facing issue when running GTA IV in Windows 7, there is workaround dealing with display resolution to fix the issue. Firstly, try to lower and reduce the color quaility from highest quality of True Color (32 bit) to lower quality of High Color (16 bit). To do so, right click on Desktop to select Screen Resolution, then hit on Advanced settings button. The Colors setting is available in Monitor tab. The game should be able to play in any display resolution at this setting.

Alternatively, try to reduce and lower the desktop display resolution to 800×600 pixels. The GTA 4 game should be able to start and run properly at SVGA (Super VGA) resolution. Once player is in the game, it’s possibel to change and revert to original resolution .

Another possible cause for GTA 4 to fail to start and run is custom text size (DPI) which is too big. Custom DPI setting allows Windows user to read bigger text size comfortably at high resolution monitor screen, but may not goes well with Grand Theft Auto game series. Revert back the custom DPI setting to 100% or 125%, and game should load perfectly. To do so, go to Control Panel -> Appearance and Personalization -> Display and click on Set custom text size (DPI) link.